Means for preventing the destruction of ships by submarine explosions.



PATENT-ED JULY 16, 1907.

H. HOYOSS. MEANS FOR PREVBNTING THE DESTRUCTION l0F SHIPS BY SUBMARINE4EXPLOSIO NS.

APPLIUATION FILED H0 2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Y uw PATENTED JULY 16, 1907.

H. HOYOSS. MEANSFOR PREVENTNG THE DESTRUCTION 0F SHIPS BY SUBMARINEEXPLOSIO NS.

APrLmuIon'HLnD lov. 2s. 190e.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

`IIOKON I'IOYOSS, OI"` CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE DESTRUCTION OF SHIPS BY SUBMARINE EXPLOSINS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 16, 1907.

Application filed NOVeniber 28,1906. Serial No. 345.561.

To all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HoKoN IIoYoss, a citizen ofthe United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful ll'leans for Preventing the Destruction ofShips by Submarine Explosions, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to any class of ships but par eficularly to warships and the objects of my improvements are, first, to prevent anydamage being done to .the ship when a submarine explosion takes place byproviding on the exterior of. the entire submerged portion of the hullmeans which automatically furnishes a vent or outlet for the force of-the explosion; second, to make a protected ship Without increasing theweightof steelplate used; third, to enable the replacing of the partsdisplaced after an explosion takes place; fourth, to indicate at whatportion ofthe ship .the explosion took place'and other objects toybecome apparent from the description to follow. I accomplish. theseobjects by providing on the entire exterior submerged portion of a shipshull an outer shell preferably of metal sepa rated from the hull properby space, say about four inclus; the necessary ribs or spacing blocksbeing secured between the hull and the outer shell. The outer shell isprovided with numerous holes; say about ten inches in 'diameter whichare normally closed andmade water tight by plugs "itted ifi'touthem. Theplugs are secured into the openings in such manner that' when au unusualamount of pressure is exerted l "aiiist either side of them, they willbeforced out of the openings in the direction of the force exerted, eitherin er out. By this construction a vent or outlet is provided for thepressure exerted by a submarine explosion, the' space between the outershell and themain hull being sufficient to brake the force of theoxplosion when th:v plugs above referred to are forced inwardly. Toinsure the quick action of the water or gas or water and gasundcr'cornpression froinlhe explosion to enter this space the air iswithdrawn from lsaid space and a vacuum formed.

To describe my invention so that others versed in the ai to which itpertains may make and use the same, I hav illustrated it onthc'accompanying two sheets ol' drawing forming a part of thisspecification,4 in

Figure l, is a side elevationq of a* ships hull partly.:l

broken away embodying my invention; Fig. 2, is a sec- Iioi on line 2-2of Fig. l; Fig. 3, is a diagrammatical cross sectional view of the sameshowing the action of the parts at the time of a submarine explosion andFigs. 4, 5 and 6 are detail sectional views.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout theseveral views.

The hull 7 of the ship is preferably made' of steel armor plate, and theentire submerged portion thereof is covered by an outer shell 8 made ofsteel plate. R'igidly secured between the hull 7 and the outer shell 8lare the ribs or partitions 9,\vhich preferably extend diagonally; theseribs serve to secure the shell 8 rigidly to the hull Referring to Fig.4, the shell 8 is pro vided with numerous openings I0, into which aresnugly tted the plugs 11, which are provided with concentric openings 12'closed by screw threaded plugs 13.

The plugs Il are forced into the openings I0 and against the protrudingrings 14 made of soft metal to insure -a water tight. joint. Theopenings I() are of uniform size througliout so that if sufficient forceis exerted against the plug 1l it will shear off the protruding pertionof the Washerr14 and pass entirely through the opening 10. To secure theplugs 11 in position against the Washers 14 a plurality of set screws l5are provided in theplugs 1l and are set tightly against the smoothsurface of the openings after the plug, have been forced -to theirproper position with their exposed ends flush with theexterior surfaceof the shell 8. It will' be understood that the set screws 15 serve toprevent the plugs ll from being moved through the openings 10 in eitherdirection when only a usual amount of pressure is exerted against thesame, but when sufficient pressure is exerted against the plugs `.1lthey are free to pass .through the openings I0 in either direction. Thespace between the hull 7 and the shell 8 is made sufficiently large toreceive the plugs ll. One row of plugs 1 I, prcf-.

erably on the bottom are made larger than the rest.

Referring to Fig. 5, a plurality of holes IG are provided throughthehull 7 forming the only communi-V cation from the space between the hull7 and the shell S-to the exterior atmosphere. A valve I7 is provided ineach of the holes 16 and an air suction pipe. 18 is connected to eachhole IG so that the air can be extracted from the space between the hull7 and shel'l 8, and the valves I7 will actas check valves to close holesI6.

In operation alll the openings l0 are closed by the plugs ll and thespace between the hull 7 and the shell 8 is practically a vacuum. InFig. 3, I have illustrated diagrammatically' the explosion of a mineunderneath a ship embodying my invention.- The force of the ex plosionis represented at 19 and as forcing a number of plugs 1I into the spacebetween the hull 7 and the, shell. 8 and the pressure thus entering saidspace forcing out a number of plugs 1l into the Water. A number of plugs11 are shown as being forced out above the water line as Of course ifthe ribs 9 are solid and span the entire space between the hull 7 andshell 8 pressure of the explosion will necessarily be confined to thearea between the ribs 9 which are subjected to the fore of tlieexplosion. But, I prefer to perforate the ribs 9 so as to r-rinit of agreater' and quicker expansion of the explosion, and for tbis reason theholes 2l which are normally The plugs 22 are made to fit tightly in theholes 2l so A that it requires an extraordinary pressure to force themout of said holes. .In this manner the number of plugs 11 which .areforced out into the water and lost is reduced to a minimum.4 An extra.supply of plugs 1l are lkept onboard ship to replace those whichareblown out and lost.

Another feature of this invention is to indicate at what portion of theshipthe explosion has taken place. This is also accomplishedby providingthe plugs-22 in ribs 9, becausethe plugs- 22 will only be forced out ofthe openings 21 in such localities where the force from the explosion issufficient to possibly do damage to the ship. It lwill be understoodthat the plugs l1 which are above the water line will be loreed ou'.before those beneath the water line and thus it can be seen just whatportion of the ship has been effected. B esides this visible means ofindicating where the explosion took place another indicating means maybe used` as lor instance an electric annun-iatior not shown. The wire 24is connected to the'contact 25 and the wirtl 23 is eonnected to thespring arm 26 which is located so as to be engaged and moved intocontact with the Contact 25 by the valv 17. The'valve 17 has a stem 27extending through the hole 16 and has provided at the end thereoianother valve 28. In the normal position when the space between the hull7 and shell 8 is a vacuum the valve 1.7 is closed` and the'valve 28 isopen, but when said space is filled with pressure resulting from an ex'-plosion as above described, the valve 28 is forced to a closed positionand the valve 17 is opened, which movement of valve 17 is sufficient toengage' switch arm 2G and move it into Contact with the contat-t 25,which of course closes the circuit through wires 23 and 24 and Operatesthe annunciator not shown. A hand wheel 29 secured to a threaded stemIl() is provided to operanthe valve 17 by hand when necessary.

Having thus fully described my inventi: .i what l claim as new anddesirev to soeur(- by Letters Patent ol' the United States is:-

1. ln :l device ot' the class deserihed, n -ships hull provided with awater tight compartment hnvini.: its` wull udjacent the 'wntei' providedwith n plurnlty of relnovnhli plugs.

ln :i device of the klass (lest'rihed. n ship's hull pro vided on its.exterior with n water tight ronumrtnu-nt. n plurality of plugs ln theouter wall of Suid ('olnpnrtuu-nl rnpnlile of helm: forced either in orout In' pressure.

Il. ln n device of the dass deserihed. menus attached to n ship's hulleomprlslni: a vacuum which will nutomnliv- :illy he operuted by theforce of nu explosion undei"\\':ittr to provide n vent or outlet forsaid explosion.

4. ln :l device of the class dest-rilu-d. int-nus attnrlud to n shlp'shull comprising n wnttr tight 'olnpnrtmvnt provided with n plnrnlity ofplugs which will :il|tomnlirnll he removed hy the fort-e ol` unexplosion umh-r wntvi' In providin vent or outlet for n ild explosion:ind menus for indientimr the lountion of lid explosion.

ln u device of the lass dest'l'ilwd, n shp's hull pro vided on itsentire submerged portion with n :.'ntt-l tight of its ends und engagingthe upper sui-inve of the parlit'ompnrtnu-nt divided into n plnrulit ofronipnrtlnt-nts hy .solid water tiirht partitions. plugs (-:ipnhlv ofhein: t'oreed from their openings in the outer mills of `uid vonlpnl'tnit-nts und plugs vupnhle of lit-ine' fort-vd from tht-ir opt-nings insaid partitions.

ln testimony whereof l have signed m ununlo this spotjiteutiou inpresent-v of two suhst'rihing witnesses this .titll dny of NovemberI'Jtiti, nt Chivu-gn, Illinois.

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